March 15th, 2023 – The Ides of March

Here we are; it’s our first meeting after the time change. The extra hour of daylight in the evening may have caused some members to forget it was time to head toward the firehouse, and a few of our northern friends departed. There were eight of us diehards in attendance. We enjoyed our time discussing the readings and finished a little early. But we missed all of you that couldn’t attend.

 

We started the readings with Ernie Ovitz reading an excerpt from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Mark Anthony’s speech to the Senate. After all, it is the Ides of March. Then, reading from Chapter 45 of his work, Ernie took us to Aqua Sulfuria in 342AD on a trip to find a General whom Licentious trusted and reported as having been slain in the war waged by Constantine. Treachery is afoot–a conspiracy forms.

 

Could a man born in 1984 be 89 years old in 1979? Don Westerfield has that happening in his short story, The Man Who Knew Tomorrow. In 2022 a man, a 22 year-old scientist working on an Atomic Collider, as a new procedure goes awry, is transported from his desk into the past, back to Friday, March 8^th, 1912. We are waiting to hear the second part of the story at our next meeting.

 

Tish McAuley celebrated her 13^th year of sobriety this month. CONGRATULATIONS! Tish read an excerpt from her biography. Deciding to get sober at fifty-one is hard, but staying sober is even more challenging. Alcoholism and Drug Dependency are illnesses for which there are no actual medicines. Strong character and dedication are needed to help the few feeble medical remedies offered.

 

Maybe he’s not finished, but he has arrived at the last planned chapter of Gaia. Bruce Haedrich reads to us the Next 80 Years conclusion. I’m sure Bruce is not ready to walk away from the tale as much as I’m sure Gaia will continue to speak to Bruce and send him updates. Another Ice Age approaches. It’ll be here in a blink of an eye, Gaia’s eye, maybe a few thousand years.

 

A Puzzle I Cannot Solve is the title of a story by Sandie Schagen. As a child, Sandie remembers her father’s shouts of “NO NO” as his night terrors wakened her. Sandie faces a dilemma as her father, purported to have been a Japanese POW during WWII, refuses to apply for reparation offered by the British government. Why? Sandie pursued the matter and discovered her father’s war records were incomplete at the War Office. There was no record of his capture or release from a POW facility. Was her father making up the story? Did he have nightmares about the war, the camp? Was he believing, falsely, he’d been taken, prisoner? What is the truth?

 

Ian Schagen brought us a new story in the second chapter of a new book, The Devil’s Guide to the Human Race. The protagonist is an entity in the cosmos that can take shape and form to blend in with its surroundings. Here on earth, the entity chose to take the name Lucifer.

 

Unfortunately, Ian and Sandie have to return to Great Britain soon and will not return until fall. We will miss them. Have a safe and productive summer.

 

Well, that about does it for this entry. We’ll be back in April with another meeting and entry. Until then, KEEP ON WRITING!

 

MARCH 1st, 2023

 Okay, my cable service is finally back on. I now have internet again. I’m sorry about the delay. That’s what you get when you live in a deed-restricted senior community that limits what services can operate in the area.

 

On March 1^st, the Nokomis Firehouse was abuzz with some great stories. Our resident expert on the Roman Empire, especially Emperor Constantine, Ernie Ovitz, read part of his third book. December 14^th, 324 AD, is an eventful day in history. Ernie writes of the commonplace things happening on that day as news of Constantine’s victory had not reached the citizens in the Roman as of yet. Junius Basus is having a bad day. Gloomy winter weather depresses him. In an attempt to cheer him up, his mistress proposes marriage. No, not now or ever?

 

Do you know anyone who had a stroke? Peter McNally has had two. He suffers from Gran Maul seizures, is nearly blind, and has lost most of his memory. He writes of what he can remember in his book Rewired. He writes of a lack of appetite, sleeping 15 to 16 hours daily, getting lost while walking around the block, and falling from exhaustion while trying to open his garage door. I have to admire Peter for fighting his way back. Keep it up, my friend.

 

Scott Anderson is a poet and a dedicated researcher in Lepidopterology. “What’s that?’ you might ask. Scott studies butterflies in Sarasota County and writes for the Lepidopterologist’s journal in Florida. Still, his love of these beautiful creatures took him to a butterfly farm in Aruba. Scott chose not to take sides in a debate about whether raising butterflies in a controlled habitat is ecologically correct. He talked about how much he enjoyed seeing the rare and colorful collection at the Aruba location. Plus, he read his Haiku, Rain.

A high-class brothel is a sight to behold, inside and out. Most of the places I’ve seen weren’t so high-class. In his short story, It’s Only Business, Don Westerfield writes about an establishment in San Francisco called The Landis House. Tonight he read the final portion of the story and revealed a surprise ending worthy of Don’s talent. Oh, I am not the expert in these matters that Don professes me to be.

 

Alternative history is probably the epitome of fiction writing. I find the genre fascinating, and Richard Cope brought us a scenario in which U.S. President Johnson pardoned Robert E. Lee. However, Confederate President Jefferson Davis calls Lee to Richmond after his surrender. Davis charges Lee with treason and orders him shot. The war is at a stalemate because the Southern generals continue to fight rather than face the same fate as their beloved General Lee.

 

Sandie Schagen and her husband, Ian, travel across Great Britain and hike long stretches of the country. On one such, Sandie tells of a unique solution to a perplexing issue. While on a journey requiring long hikes and train rides, they meet a couple making a similar journey in the opposite direction. Over dinner, they discuss the issues encountered on the trip. Once they complete their travel, they will be a long way from their cars which they need to return home. They strike a deal. Sandie will hand over their car keys to the other couple. They will then drive the Schagen’s car back to where they started and leave the keys with the innkeeper. At the next stop for the Schagen’s, they tell the innkeeper of their mutual arraignment. He replies, “YOU DID WHAT?”

 

A short story by Ian Schagen is humorous and quite inventive. Taking the plot from William Shakespeare, Ian, who is from Great Britain, takes a tongue-in-cheek view of American television commercials by naming all the characters and places in his story using the names of advertised pharmaceuticals. Advertising of this nature, banned in Britain, tickles Ian’s funny bone. Mine too.

 

Ever one to stir up controversy, Bruce Haedrich continues with his conversation with Gaia. Bruce is an excellent writer and makes a convincing case for his viewpoint. What will happen in the Next Eighty Years? I don’t know, and I won’t be around at 160 to find out.

 

Anne Moore read a poem by John Roedel, which has no name. She read it in memory of our late friend Peter Frickel. In its words, we could hear the passion and dedication so evident in Peter’s work. It was as if we had him back for a few minutes.

 

Rod DiGruttolo presented a reading of a first draft entitled, The Garden. A couple goes to work on a neglected garden behind their home. In tilling the soil, they uncover a forgotten headstone. The eulogy reads

A DISCIPLE OF THE DEVIL IF THERE EVER WAS ONE

HANGED A LITTLE TOO LATE.

 

It was a fun night, and we all enjoyed it. Our next meeting is at 6:30 on March 15^th at the Nokomis Firehouse. Until then, KEEP ON WRITING.

February 15th, 2023

Yeah, I know I’m late with this blog. In my defense, I’ve been busy writing. I accepted the challenge of writing a story using exactly 100 words using this picture as a prompt.

The challenger uses the word DRABBLE to describe a short story of exactly 100 words. You can be funny, poignant, witty, etc.; it is, after all, your story.

Email me if you’re interested, and I’ll provide details.

Challenges like this are fun. They test your skills and promote good writing. Don’t be afraid to give it a go.

 

Moving on: Our readings at this meeting provoked thought and gave us something to look forward to in upcoming sessions. Leading off this week, Dennis Cathcart took us to Venezuela for an adventure in hunting exotic plants and reptiles. In Chapter Two, And Then We Are Five, from his newest book Koulèv: Adventures of an American Snake Hunter, Book Two, we find ourselves in a jungle clearing in the pitch black of a night unspoiled by light pollution. Dennis’ description of the night sky takes us there. If you’ve ever had this experience of seeing the plethora of stars in a truly dark sky, you know what he saw that night. The next day they come upon a myriad of wildlife found only in unspoiled territories.

 

When Pete McNally took the floor, we heard a remarkable story in Rewired. Still recovering from a stroke, finally cleared to drive and return to work, Pete becomes confused on his way home. The symptoms worsen, but he arrives at his house. He’s suffered a second stroke, more intense and debilitating than the first. What faculties will he lose this time? His memory is limited, and he’s learned to speak again, but half his vision is gone. Will it get worse? Pete’s courage in writing about his ordeal is commendable, and we see the results of a long hard recovery. We look forward to the next chapter.

 

Ernie Ovitz takes us back to the Fourth Century CE, Constantine the Great rules Rome from his Eastern Capitol in Constantinople, but discontent is afoot. Even the Emperor’s wife plots against him as she schemes to discredit or eliminate Crispus, Constantine’s son, from a previous marriage. Reading from Chapter 48 of the third book in his trilogy, Ernie weaves a tale based on historical facts.

 

Tish Mcauley writes of a world rife with drugs, alcohol, and money. A recovering addict, Tish finds issues in the current treatment programs as she tries to explain her world to others who’ve not experienced some of the things taking place in an addict’s life. Tish agrees it takes more than willpower to fight your way out of the grip of drugs, alcohol, or any vice one might face in life. Today’s faith-based organizations too often espouse only Christian values. She proposes a non-sectarian approach to recovery and is willing to help that come about.

 

I’m sure you’ve heard men speak of their wives using “My Old Lady.” Richard Cope read a story in the voice of a man extolling the virtues of his wife. In a piece with that phrase as its title, we hear of love, friendship, and respect, exemplified in the final line, “My old lady, she’s one hell of a woman.”

 

It’s Only Business is Don Westerfield’s tale of a young man returning from Harvard University to San Francisco, where his Aunt expects him to take over running her long-standing business as she plans to marry a man from Carson City. As the story develops, he meets the prospective bridegroom and his beautiful daughter while visiting Carson City to plan the wedding. Attracted to the daughter, the young man finds she is very involved in her father’s business of securing investors with lots of money. As he talks to her, he discovers she knows of his business in San Francisco and understands that it is the classiest brothel in California.

 

Gaia is another word for our planet Earth. Bruce Haedrich writes in essay form as if Gaia is speaking to him. As we hurtle through space at millions of miles per hour, Gaia tries to tell us what will happen. Used to terms of millions of years, Gaia speaks of the next eighty years. To our planet, eighty years is a quarter of a second in our lifespan, the blink of a human’s eye. The next eighty years are insignificant to Gaia’s future but critical to the human race. Ice ages will come and go. Will humans survive? What is our future?

 

James Kelly reads from his newest book of young Tremain MacKinzie arriving in Cuba as a member of Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. Aboard ship for two long weeks, the regiment arrives in Cuba. Lush jungles and mountainous terrain greet the men. As Lakota Sioux, Tremain has never seen such dense vegetation though he is familiar with the mountains. Disembarking, the troops encounter the dangers of war in that snipers and well-trained Spanish troops harass their progress every step of the way.

 

Bill Elam tells of a man who lived caring for his fellow humans. His wife has passed away, and he misses her. He has spread her ashes over the waters of the Gulf of Mexico from his little airplane. Now he faces his final days and plans to take one last flight. As the sun sets, he flies above the Golden Runway; his heart stops, but the little plane flies on. A commercial pilot on a parallel course sees the aircraft and becomes one of The Chosen as the little plane tilts upward and climbs at an astounding speed away from Earth into the beyond.

 

Growing up in Sarasota was full of adventure and fun. Rod Digruttolo reads a short story about his character, Skeeter. Released from days of restriction, Rod received a Reprieve at supper on Friday night. He and two friends set out for a day of exploration early the following morning. Rod’s tale brings back memories of childhood and the freedom of youth.

 

That’s all for this session, but I will return next month with more from our little group. God Bless, and remember – KEEP ON WRITING!

 

February 1st, 2023

Here we are, already into February. There was a somber mood at the Firehouse this week. Our group lost a friend, a prolific writer with paramount skills and true dedication to the craft. We all miss Peter Frickel. Bruce Haedrich eulogized our colleague with the following piece.

 

 

REMEMBERING

by Bruce Haedrich

I intended to read you the next chapter from Gaia, The Next 80 Years.. Instead I will read about my thoughts our friend Peter Frickel and how he influenced, mentored, and guided my thinking and writing. His comments on what I wrote were like being cut with an accurate but soft scalpel; you hardly felt it, but like his father and brothers, all doctors, the cuts he made were healing cuts. When he began with, "Perhaps it would be better if, ... " I knew I'd have to rewrite the whole piece. When he asked me, "Why are you using other's quotes to introduce your stories? Isn't the work yours?" I went back and changed all my published quotes. I cherished every bit of guidance Peter gave me.

Peter liked my Dan Marin stories, OK, but thought my strength as a writer was in my work on Gaia, Battery, Storm, and Drop. His enthusiastic endorsements led me to change portions of them, and you can hear echoes of Peter's voice in each.

Several years ago, I wrote an essay titled Interconnected. The main point of the article is that everything in life is connected to everything else. I thought the lines from the English poet Francis Thompson best captured the idea. Thompson said: "Thou canst not stir a flower without troubling a star." But I was wrong. In his beautifully written prose, poetry, and short comment, Peter is the one who has shown us humanity's deep connections with nature, each other, our emotions, and God.

He did not wear religion on his sleeve but was still deeply spiritual and humble for the gifts his God had given him. The opening words of The Lilies of the Vlei are, "In the beginning, God chose Africa for me." In River, he says, "I am a river born of God." In Lotha and the Three Crosses, Peter tells the story of the man, Lotha, who built a crypt for Joseph of Arimathea Joseph gave the tomb for Jesus to be interred after his crucifixion.

The Lilies of the Vlei tells the story of growing up in Africa on the shores of the Indian Ocean. There, he saw firsthand the ravages of war from those beautiful yet violent tragic lands, and young Peter rode shotgun for his physician father, who administered to Zulu warriors in the African outback.

Years later, as many of you know, a Zulu witch doctor gave Peter a second heart in a solemn ceremony. Through his carefully chosen words, you can hear the beat of both his hearts, one of compassion and the other of of understanding.

When I first met Peter, he told me he planned a quest to the Pyrenes to find wooden remnants of Christ's cross, and as he notes in, Lotha, the healing stones cut from the rock

that covered Christ's tomb. The only person standing in his way was his doctor. I was fascinated by the story of Lotha and Peter's thoughts which form a bundle of truths, myths, conjectures, and religious beliefs. The name Lotha is not in the Bible, but in Peter's story, he is a friend of Joseph of Arimathea. All four gospels agree that Pilate gave Christ's body to Joseph for burial. History shows that years later, Emperor Constantine's mother, Helena, went to Calvary, discovered where the three crosses buried there, and took them back to Constantinople. From there on, the crosses, healing stones, and their fragments became dispersed across the world. Some of the stones ended up in Lourdes, France. Peter convinced me he could find them, and I think Peter's account is as believable as any other..

Peter’s published work includes poetry, books, a recording of Roads, and a u-tube biography. In his book,My Frog Sings, he tells us of his search for the meaning of life through his garden. He maintained that creating a garden can raise a person's spirits above despair, the drama of divorce, unexpected death, and sudden poverty. Peter's garden was a constant joy to him, and he wrote about it frequently.

In his last book, Kaleen, we are taken on an emotional trip as Peter tells the story of a young married physician facing the consequences of an affair with a Legionnaire resulting in pregnancy. How can she face her husband and five-year-old daughter? Is abortion the answer? Peter gives her the answers.

Thousands of years ago, two hominids, heidelbergensis, and erectus, evolved in Africa. From those ancestors, it is believed three homo species evolved: Neanderthalensis, Denisovans, and sapiens. The three species ventured north, but scientists are unsure about the connections because they left such sparse records.

But then, 120,000 years later, another sapiens, Peter George Frickel, a modem-day Odysseus, took the same steps out of Africa, across the middle-east, and into Europe. But this time, a record of that historic journey exists, and a man with two hearts wrote it.

Of all the people Peter met and influenced, we, the members of the Sarasota Writers Group, are the luckiest. Month after month and year after year, Peter read his work to us - for us - and gently helped improve our writing. His voice was as distinctive as his words, and we hung on every single one. We are the luckiest to have heard him, yes, but few will miss him more.

 

THANK YOU BRUCE!

 

 

We opened the meeting with a short discussion. I asked a question. “Do you ever find yourselves thinking like your created character? Or, while in the throes of writing, do you sometimes behave as your character might?”

Though I directed my question toward fiction writers, our poets also chimed in. A large part of our writing includes traits we have. Therefore, we are writing about someone we know or are using ourselves as a model for our characters. What do you think?

 

Jeffery Kutcher is writing about himself while working on an autobiography. In this chapter, he introduces us to Joelle, his wife and full partner in life decisions. He met her in Israel. Her compassion and kind actions toward his Aunt, who became ill during their tour, enforced his initial attraction toward the beautiful woman. Jeffery was encouraged to expand her part in this chapter as she is so influential in his history.

 

Scott Anderson graced us with a Haiku and gave us an explanation of its breakdown. Then, he read another poem, The Woods. Scott is an expert at reading poetry as well as writing it. Was this work a test? It was a lovely poem but didn’t have the usual depth of feeling experienced in his work. I smell a trap.

 

Tish Mcauley is struggling with writing her story in novel form. It is the true story of her life, and she has reverted to writing it that way. What is a Physic Empath? She tells of the pain she feels emanating from others. A wraith, a spirit of a murdered girl, comes to her. It is painful, physically and mentally. Is she crazy? That’s what some say. She feels crazy and looks crazy in the eyes of those near her. People who don’t understand will call someone crazy rather than try to understand.

 

Did you know the Roman people were superstitious and strongly believed in curses? Ernie Ovitz reads a tale of witches and curses in his historical novel of  Emperor Constantine. A woman of noble standing consults a witch, asking that a curse be directed toward another noble. The witch demands payment, a lock of the victim’s hair, and a sum of gold. The hag also requires a lock of the woman’s hair.

 

James Kelly writes of the historic times surrounding the Lakota Sioux tribes in the Blackhills of Dakota. In this chapter of his saga, A young man raised by a cavalry officer hears of the army’s action at Wounded Knee. He worries as his Sioux grandfather lives near the site of the massacre.

 

It’s Only Business is a product of Don Westerfield’s fertile imagination. The story follows a young college graduate chosen by his Aunt to take over her lucrative business, The Landis House, the classiest brothel in all of San Francisco. This reading was the second installment in the ongoing tale. Don’s humor and skill in storytelling explode in the story as it progresses.

 

Supposedly written by the last survivor of Woodstock arrives in the mail. Richard Cope shared a story entitled My Letter From Max – The Final/Last Survivor of Woodstock. Drugs, sex, rain, and mud could not deter truly affectionate from enjoying the music, although they did find respite in the previous dalliances.

 

If I’ve forgotten anything, please, forgive me. I lost some of my notes and was using a rapidly eroding memory to reconstruct the reading portion of the meeting. But, in any case, until we get together on February 15^th, KEEP ON WRITING.